| NET Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1I said, "Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the nation of Israel! You ought to know what is just, | 1I said, “Listen, you leaders of Israel! You are supposed to know right from wrong, |
| 2yet you hate what is good, and love what is evil. You flay my people's skin and rip the flesh from their bones. | 2but you are the very ones who hate good and love evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh from their bones. |
| 3You devour my people's flesh, strip off their skin, and crush their bones. You chop them up like flesh in a pot--like meat in a kettle. | 3Yes, you eat my people’s flesh, strip off their skin, and break their bones. You chop them up like meat for the cooking pot. |
| 4Someday these sinners will cry to the LORD for help, but he will not answer them. He will hide his face from them at that time, because they have done such wicked deeds." | 4Then you beg the LORD for help in times of trouble! Do you really expect him to answer? After all the evil you have done, he won’t even look at you!” |
| 5This is what the LORD says: "The prophets who mislead my people are as good as dead. If someone gives them enough to eat, they offer an oracle of peace. But if someone does not give them food, they are ready to declare war on him. | 5This is what the LORD says: “You false prophets are leading my people astray! You promise peace for those who give you food, but you declare war on those who refuse to feed you. |
| 6Therefore night will fall, and you will receive no visions; it will grow dark, and you will no longer be able to read the omens. The sun will set on these prophets, and the daylight will turn to darkness over their heads. | 6Now the night will close around you, cutting off all your visions. Darkness will cover you, putting an end to your predictions. The sun will set for you prophets, and your day will come to an end. |
| 7The prophets will be ashamed; the omen readers will be humiliated. All of them will cover their mouths, for they will receive no divine oracles." | 7Then you seers will be put to shame, and you fortune-tellers will be disgraced. And you will cover your faces because there is no answer from God.” |
| 8But I am full of the courage that the LORD's Spirit gives, and have a strong commitment to justice. This enables me to confront Jacob with its rebellion, and Israel with its sin. | 8But as for me, I am filled with power— with the Spirit of the LORD. I am filled with justice and strength to boldly declare Israel’s sin and rebellion. |
| 9Listen to this, you leaders of the family of Jacob, you rulers of the nation of Israel! You hate justice and pervert all that is right. | 9Listen to me, you leaders of Israel! You hate justice and twist all that is right. |
| 10You build Zion through bloody crimes, Jerusalem through unjust violence. | 10You are building Jerusalem on a foundation of murder and corruption. |
| 11Her leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, her priests proclaim rulings for profit, and her prophets read omens for pay. Yet they claim to trust the LORD and say, "The LORD is among us. Disaster will not overtake us!" | 11You rulers make decisions based on bribes; you priests teach God’s laws only for a price; you prophets won’t prophesy unless you are paid. Yet all of you claim to depend on the LORD. “No harm can come to us,” you say, “for the LORD is here among us.” |
| 12Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed up like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the Temple Mount will become a hill overgrown with brush! | 12Because of you, Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field; Jerusalem will be reduced to ruins! A thicket will grow on the heights where the Temple now stands. |
|
